When Under Goodness Wicked Lies
by Maeglin
Summary: At the end of the TriWizard Tournament Harry decides it is time to rise again. Slash!


When Under Goodness Wicked Lies

by Maeglin Yedi

Pairing: HP/LM sort of

Rating: R

Warning: Slash (male-male relationship), very mild chanslash. 

Setting: Let´s just say that this is an alternative ending to GoF. Spoilers for all books.

Disclaimer: All the characters from Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I just play with them once in a while. 

Archive: 

Feedback: most welcome; maeglin.yedi@lycos.nl

Summary: At the end of the TriWizard Tournament Harry decides it is time to rise again. 

A/N: Credit and thanks to Nimori for coming up with the titles featured in this fic. And credit goes to Amanuensis and her wonderful fic ´Round up´, which inspired my muse to come up with this bunny. 

*********************************

_- When under goodness wicked lies -_

Sitting on the marble headstone of my father I caress my wand slowly.

_My wand._

Not the substitute I have been carrying with me for the past four years. Oh, it has served me well, but nothing could ever replace my own wand. And I know I will only be able to cherish it for a few short moments this evening until I´ll have to return. But cherish those moments I will. 

Wormtail sits besides the headstone on the damp grass and watches over our prisoner. The foolish boy who finally gave in and did what I practically begged him to do. Touch the cup. And now he lies, stupefied, next to Wormtail, waiting for the inevitable. Oh, he doesn´t know that yet, of course. But he will serve his purpose tonight. 

I can hear them now. My followers. My servants. 

My _true_ family.

Thirteen years I´ve waited for this moment. To be surrounded by them again. Thirteen years I´ve spend with Muggles and Mudbloods. Thirteen years I´ve had to pretend to be a boy I am most certainly not. 

But it has all served its purpose, I suppose. 

I see their black cloaks and white masks as they make their way towards me. It´s a shame that they are wearing mask, really. I would love to see the expressions on their faces now that they are confronted with what they believe to be their Lord´s worst enemy. 

I stay put as I watch them walk towards us hesitantly. They stare at me, uncertain why they would find their enemy on the graveyard of their Lord´s Muggle relatives. One of their own sitting besides me and regarding me with the respect I deserve. 

Oh, I don´t blame them. After all, they don´t know any better. I killed their Lord thirteen years ago. 

_I was my own downfall. _

That private thought makes me chuckle. There was a time that it made me furious. But those days have passed. At this moment, nothing can put me down. Not even the memories of my own stupidity when I tried to curse that boy. Slowly waking up in a new body. In a new mind. Memories that haunted me, confused me, and finally made me see who I really was. Thank Salazar that happened before I got my Hogwarts letter. If Dumbledore would have gotten his hands on me before my full memory had returned, there is no saying what could have happened to me. 

"Potter."

_Lucius._

Oh, I have a few things to settle with him. I jump down from the headstone, and straighten my Gryffindor robes. Wormtail gets to his feet immediately but I signal that he should stay behind. My trusted servant obeys and keeps his position next to our prisoner. 

Yes, it was a true surprise when I encountered him on my first day as a Hogwarts student in this body. It was a pity that he belonged to a _Weasley _though. To be near him forced me to make friends with that poor excuse for a Wizard and even made me decide to convince the Sorting Hat to place me in Gryffindor. 

But I did not have much of a choice. I´m reluctant to admit it, but I needed him at that time. My true power had not returned to me yet and Wormtail was my only way to communicate with the world outside Hogwarts. 

But I´m letting my memories take over and this is not the time or place to do so. 

"Lucius." I say while I look up at his masked face. There was a time when I was taller than him but unfortunately my current body is that of a fourteen-year-old boy. And therefore it leaves me with no other choice than to look up at my servant. 

Lucius stands completely still and even though he is still wearing the white mask I can tell that he is confused about this situation. Well, he should be. It is not everyday that the son of one of his school rivals confronts him in a graveyard filled with Death Eaters. That is what he knows. I think it is time he learned my true identity. 

"Take off your mask." I order him confidently. For a moment nothing happens, and then Lucius starts to laugh. 

That irritating, arrogant, Malfoy laugh. 

I think it is time I show Lucius who is in control. 

"Crucio."

Ah, it has been so many years since those words have crossed my lips and a feeling of melancholia sweeps through me as I watch Lucius wither and spasm on the grass. The other Death Eaters, bless their ignorant souls, are too perplexed to react. All they see is the Boy-Who-Lived cast an Unforgivable on one of their own. 

Then one of them, Nott for as far as I can tell from the distance, feels brave enough to confront me. He draws his wand but before he can point it at me I have my other wand in my free hand, and cast a second Cruciatus curse, directed at him of course. 

Yes, there is an advantage in owning two wands. 

After enjoying the beauty of their pain for a few more moments I release them, and watch silently as both men pant and try to catch their ragged breath. Then I step up to Malfoy, bend down, and yank of his mask.

He looks up at me and I can see fear and trepidation in those piercing gray eyes. 

Lucius, my slippery friend. How can you fear a fourteen-year-old boy?

Perhaps my demonstration of power has given him some insight in my true nature. 

"Get up!" I order him, and this time he obeys me without any doubt and stands before me on trembling legs. 

"Tell me. Who am I?" I ask him and I can practically see his cunning mind spin in confusion. 

Really, that wasn´t such a hard question, now was it?

After a few very silent moments he seems to have regained his ability to speak. 

"Harry Potter." he says softly, his voice nothing more than a whisper. 

I laugh. 

_It is funny. _

A powerful Wizard and an intelligent Slytherin he might be, Lucius is now demonstrating that he can also look completely clueless. 

Let´s try again. 

"Who am I?"

Lucius swallows and I see his gaze flicker across the wands I´m still holding. 

Oh yes, my sweet Slytherin, punishment will follow for those who get the answer wrong. 

Finally he seems to put two and two together and his eyes widen. 

"My Lord." he whispers before he drops to his knees and kisses the hem of my Gryffindor robes. 

**********************************************************

_- And truth is not as they surmise -_

Is there a more beautiful sight in the world than that of your wayward followers crawling toward you on their hands and knees, begging for forgiveness? 

Perhaps Dumbledore´s lifeless and mutilated body at my feet....but I´m sure I´ll be able to indulge myself in that sight pretty soon. 

Lucius is standing next to me, his rightful spot as my right-hand man, and I can feel his impatience radiating off him. He has so many questions. I´m sure they all have. 

Without needing an order to do so, my family gathers around me in the familiar circle, and wait for me to speak. 

I look at them, or more specifically, I look at the gaps left between them. My family is incomplete but that was to be expected. 

I step up to Lucius, and stare him in his eyes. He keeps his face emotionless but his eyes betray him. I´ve always been able to see every hidden emotion in those pools of liquid silver. And right now, Lucius is worried. Very worried. And he should be. 

I slap him in his face hard. 

I see him flinch momentarily but he holds his dignified composure and looks at me expectantly. 

"Lucius, you idiot!" I tell him while I glare at him. I can hear a soft snicker coming from Wormtail. Yes, that hideous traitor must enjoy seeing his betters being humiliated like this.

"Indulging yourself in that pathetic dispute with the Weasleys and slipping _my_ diary to that despicable girl. Do you have any idea how much trouble that caused me? My own memory didn´t recognize me and sent that Basilisk I once controlled after me!"

Lucius looks very pale but doesn´t move a muscle. I take a deep breath and calm myself. 

"Of course I defeated both of them in the end but it almost cost me my life. Again."

And it had given me another great opportunity to profile myself as the Gryffindor Golden Boy by saving the life of an innocent student. Dumbledore was ready to kiss my feet by then.

"Forgive me, My Lord. I had no idea.....I wanted to keep your memory alive....literally."

"Well, you succeeded in that. Just make sure you don´t do something like that in the future, Lucius, or I will have to take harsher measures to display my displeasure."

"Yes, My Lord, it will not happen again."

"I do have to compliment you on your ingenious way in disposing of Dumbledore. Too bad he came back."

"Thank you, My Lord. You are too kind."

"Yes, I know."

I move over to the empty spot besides Lucius, and stare at it a few moments. I feel anger and fury rage through my mind when I think of the bravery these two people have displayed when they refused to renounce me and rather spent their days rotting away while the others simply lied and claimed innocence after my downfall so many years ago. 

"The Lestranges should stand here," I say to no one in particular. 

"But alas, they are locked away in Azkaban and chose to remain faithful to me rather than betray me."

I let my eyes wander across the rest of my family and can smell their fear and guilt. 

"They will join us when Azkaban is broken open, and they will be honored beyond their belief. The Dementors will join us, just as all of our old allies. An army of Dark Creatures will be at our disposal."

It is still hard for me to speak about Dementors without physically shivering. Thanks to some of the boy´s memories, which remain embedded in my mind, Dementors have an unusual nasty effect on me. I shall put someone else in charge of them once they join our side. 

I move on again, and look each and every Death Eater in the eye. Some I confront, others I ignore. They are meaningless to me right now, and will serve their purpose in the future. 

"Macnair. Destroying dangerous beasts these days, aren´t you. Don´t worry, you will get your Hippogriff soon and I might even add a werewolf to that."

"Thank you, Master. You are too generous."

I ignore his profession of gratitude and look at the pair of brainless goons standing next to him. 

"Crabbe. Goyle."

Their sons are living proof that lack of intelligence is genetic and passes on to other generations. I have a lot of things I would like to say to these two but I realize that I should keep my sentences short and simple for the information to reach that void of theirs where normal people keep their brains. 

"I expect you to do better this time. Both of you."

They manage to mumble a "Thank you, My Lord." and I know that is all I´m going to get from these two, so I move on. 

"Nott, Avery. The same goes for you two."

"Yes, My Lord. You are most gracious...-"

"...- we are your most faithful servants...-"

"That will do," I tell them, and stare at the large gap next to them. Again a feeling of fury rages through me.

"Three of those who should stand here tonight died for our cause. One of them is too cowardly to return and he will pay of course."

Yes, I have a pretty good idea of what Karkaroff is doing right now. Packing his bags and fleeing the country, I´m sure. But that does not worry me. We will track him down, and he will pay for his betrayal.

"And one of them is no longer faithful to me, I´m afraid. I will kill him in the near future."

Professor Snape, prepare to pay dearly for your betrayal and for the four years you have humiliated me, you perfidious, hideous excuse for a Death Eater.

 "And one of them remains my most faithful servant. It is he who made it possible for us to meet here tonight while he remains at Hogwarts."

I can see my Death Eaters shift on their feet rather nervously and exchange glances. 

Finally I look at Wormtail, who is still guarding our prisoner, and he bows his head submissively when he catches my eyes.

"And then there is Wormtail," I say while I approach him slowly. "A liar and traitor for so many years until I confronted him over three years ago. Ever since that day he has been faithful to me, haven´t you, Wormtail?"

Wormtail kneels, and kisses the hem of my robes. I pat his balding head as I would pat a dog and I can hear his soft exclamations of gratitude. 

"Wormtail knows that his Master looks after him, don´t you? Because who was it that saved you that night in the Shrieking Shack when Black and that Wolf were ready to kill you?"

"You Master. I am in your debt forever," he whispers.

"Yes, you are. And who gave you the opportunity to prove your loyalty? Who gave you protection? Who gave you all the tasks to carry out so your Master could return?"

"You, My Lord. I am most grateful for everything you have done for me, My Lord."

I gesture for him to get up, and he does so immediately. I then look at our prisoner, still lying stupefied on the grass, fearful eyes looking up at me. I grab my wand, and release him from the spell. He sits up, and looks at me with so much confusion that I´m worried he might pass out. 

"H-Harry?" he asks while he keeps staring at me as if I´m the ghost of his fellow student. 

"Ah, Cedric. I´m afraid you are mistaken me for someone else," I tell him and crouch down besides him. He backs away a few inches but I ignore that. 

"It ends here for you, my brave Huffelpuf. But I will make it quick and painless."

"N-no....Harry....no!"

"Don´t worry, Cedric. You will die a martyr and you will always be remembered as the brave boy who lost his life at Potter´s side," I tell him while I get up. He´s panicking now, his eyes wide while sweat drips off his forehead. 

"Harry, listen to me. I know you are in there. You must be!" he yells at me. 

I laugh. 

And raise my wand. 

"Avada Kedavra"

The power that erupts from my wand is illustrated by a beautiful green flash that hits his body, and he falls backwards. 

I look at his lifeless form, and bend down to caress his cheek. Cedric is as handsome in death as he was in life. 

"You see, Cedric, there is something you don´t understand," I tell Cedric´s corpse as if I owe him an explanation after all. 

"Harry Potter is dead."

****************************************

_- Beware the shouts of my demise - _

"My Lord, forgive me for asking....this is a miracle....how.....when...-"

I silence Lucius by raising my hand, and look at all my Death Eaters before I speak. 

"A miracle indeed, Lucius." I across the circle, making sure that I have everyone´s full attention. 

"I wonder why all of you were so eager to believe that a one-year-old child could defeat the greatest Wizard who had ever lived. For thirteen years I have been alive, right under your noses and not one of you has ever tried to find me."

Silence is the only thing coming from my Death Eaters as I glare at each and everyone of them. 

"You should have known better than that. You all know that I had been experimenting with Spells that would ensure my immortality. And part of those Spells proved to work on the night I killed the Potters. 

I admit I miscalculated the ancient magic Lily Potter used when she died protecting her child. When I cast the Killing Curse on the boy it backfired, and hit me. I experienced pain beyond pain, my friends. But thanks to the Spells I had used to ensure my immortality, only my body died that night. My soul could not be killed, not even by the Killing Curse. 

Of course my soul needed a new body and it automatically invaded the first suitable form it could find. That of young Mr. Potter, who´s own soul was still young and weak. For years I lived in darkness, which seemed to last for an eternity, but finally my own mind began to form itself inside young Mr. Potter´s. It took years before I was powerful enough to take over completely from him and banish his own soul to the darkness that had held me before. 

But my powers had not returned yet. It was like history repeated itself and once again I was at the mercy of Muggles. I could not fight them, could not stop them at that time. But they will pay dearly for their treatment of me, I can assure you. 

When I was admitted to Hogwarts once again some of my original powers started to return but I knew it would take years before I would be back at my original strength. So I played the part of the Boy-Who-Lived, meanwhile planning everything for the return of most powerful Wizard know to man. 

Wormtail proved to be a faithful servant in this and he has aided me along the years. During my first year I even thought I had finally found a way to became immortal in both mind and body, but alas, the DADA professor I thought I could trust betrayed me at the last moment and claimed the prize for himself. I had no choice but to kill him and hand the stone over to that fool Dumbledore. But it also gave me a chance to spread the rumor that I was still alive and that there would be a chance that I might return one day. 

Unfortunately for Wormtail, during our third year that flee-ridden abomination of a Gryffindor, Black, escaped Azkaban, and hunted Wormtail down. My faithful servant managed to escape and I managed to gain Black´s trust along with the Werewolf´s. They will both play their part in our cause in the future, don´t worry. 

What seemed to be a drawback turned out to be quite fortunate because on one of his missions Wormtail encountered Bertha Jorkins, and managed to extract valuable information from her. Especially information about one of my servants I believed to be dead. Wormtail contacted him, and both helped me come up with a plan to assure the rise of myself at the end of that year. 

You see, my powers are returning quickly and I have almost restored them completely. Within a few months I will have my original powers back, yet this time combined with the natural powers of the Potter Child. I will be even more powerful than I have ever been before. 

But I had spent too much energy in pretending to be the Boy-Who-Lived over the years, and I decided to use that cover for my own advantage. While the world believes me to be Potter, I will have the perfect opportunities to destroy their men from the inside, all the while blaming the Dark Lord who is after me, of course."

Again silence is the only thing that comes from my servants as I take my own place in the circle once again. 

"My Lord....I know I speak for everybody when I ask you to forgive us...-"

"Silence, Lucius! I do not forgive. You of all people should know that."

Lucius lowers his gaze immediately, and I look at the others, almost daring them to say something. 

"For thirteen years I have lived between Muggles and Mudbloods. For thirteen years I have suffered, waiting for my true powers to return. And for thirteen years none of you have done anything to aid me, to find me or to show your loyalty. You all owe me thirteen years of your life. And I will collect that debt you owe me, starting at this very moment."

My Death Eaters nod silently. Very smart of them. Anyone who would go against me at this moment would suffer for their disobedience. I am glad they still remember whom it is exactly they serve. 

"Now that you know I am still alive and will take my rightful place in the Wizarding World once again, you are dismissed. My true identity must remain a secret, of course and all you may tell the world is that your Master has finally returned. Orders for each and every one of you will follow."

And with that said I turn around, and walk away from the circle. I look over my shoulder at the blond Wizard, and give him a small smile. 

"Oh, Lucius? Stay behind for a few moments."

The rest of my Death Eaters disapparate, and after a few moments only Lucius, Wormtail and myself remain in the graveyard. 

"Wormtail, go up to the Mansion and continue on the tasks I have given you." I reluctantly hand him my old wand to keep it safe. He takes it, and with a curt nod Wormtail disappears between the trees that surround the graveyard. 

As soon as we are left alone, Lucius relaxes and gives me a genuine smile. Yes, we have spent many private hours together in the past and it would surprise me if he had forgotten the special bond we share. 

"You know, Lucius. Your son is an arrogant brat," I tell him casually and he chuckles. 

"I know, My Lord. And I apologize for his behavior towards you during these past years," he says and this time I laugh. 

"Don´t worry about it, Lucius. I refused his friendship on the train the first day because I had more need of Wormtail at that moment than I had of your spawn."

I walk up to him, and trail my fingers across his cheek. In response Lucius closes his eyes and leans into my touch. 

"And a handsome boy he is, that son of yours. Of course, not as handsome as his father," I whisper and Lucius drops to his knees before me. 

"My Lord, let me pleasure you?" he asks, no, begs and I smile at him. 

He has always been such a good pet. 

I put my hand on his head, and caress his silk-like hair. It has been too long since I have had any kind of pleasure only Lucius could give me but this is not the time or the place to indulge myself in that. 

"Another time, Lucius," I tell him and see disappointment in his eyes. 

"My Lord, you are hurt. Let me at least heal you," he blurts out, and I look at my leg. 

Oh yes, that blasted spider during the last task. 

"Don´t worry about it, my dear. I have already cast a pain-numbing spell on it. I need the wound to be there when I return," I tell him and he nods his head. 

 I stare down at his face, and put both my hands on his cheeks. I lower my head, and kiss him. It has been too long since I have felt those lips on my own and Lucius must feel the same because he eagerly opens his mouth, and meets my tongue with his. 

Our kiss is hungry, passionate, almost desperate and I know I need to stop it before I can´t control myself any longer and bend him over a headstone, rip his trousers off and fuck him until he won´t be able to walk for a week. 

I pull back, and a disappointed moan escapes his lips. 

"Soon, Lucius. Soon we will be together again, as it should be. Right now I need you to hex me."

"My Lord?"

The expression on his face is priceless, and I laugh again. My pet could always make me laugh like that. By Salazar, I have missed him. 

"I need you to throw a hex at me before I return to Hogwarts. Potter wouldn´t be able to escape the clutches of the Dark Lord completely unharmed, now would he?"

"Of course, My Lord," Lucius says obediently while he stands up again. 

Oh, I almost forgot. I reach inside my robes, and pull out a small dagger. I see Lucius give me a worried look so I give him a reassuring smile. 

"It is all part of the plan, Lucius," I tell him, and press the dagger on my arm. A flash of pain, which I can easily ignore, bursts through me when I cut myself. I throw the dagger aside, and admire my handy work. It will do. 

I walk over to Diggory´s body, and grab his arm. The cup lies a few feet away and I´m ready to grab it the moment Lucius will hit me with a curse. 

"Nothing too drastic, my dear," I warn him playfully, and he gives me one of his very seductive smiles in return. I can´t wait to meet him again in a more appropriate setting and at a better time. 

Lucius raises his wand and waits for my approval. I give him a silent nod, and he mutters a spell I cannot hear. An orange flash breaks free from his wand, and hits me in my chest. Pain rips through me but I fight it and grab the cup with my free hand. I feel a familiar pull in my stomach and prepare myself for the confrontation that will follow.

*******************************************

_- For only sunlight cloaks my rise -_

I land flat on my face and feel extremely dizzy. It is however not a side effect from the portkey but rather from the curse Lucius used. Oh yes, my lover decided to hex me with some sneaky Dark Magic. He will pay dearly for that. As I´m sure he knew at the moment he hexed me. I hope he hasn´t redecorated his dungeons since the last time we shared some wonderful moments there so many years ago. 

"Harry!"

Ah, people have found me. Let the games begin. 

"Headmaster," I croak when I see the Dumbledore crouch besides me. He gives me a worried look, and I grab his wrist. 

"He´s back," I whisper with just the right amount of fear in my voice. "Voldemort is back."

More people gather around us and in the distance I can hear shouts and cries coming from the stands. 

"Diggory is dead!"

I´m tempted to let out a very childish "Duh!" but I restrain myself. Fudge never was one for intelligent remarks and I will enjoy torturing him before I end his miserable life. 

More people start screaming and yelling that Cedric is dead, and Dumbledore helps me to my feet while he tries to hold people back. Fudge is in a state of full-blown panic by now and demands Dumbledore´s attention. 

The old coot is forced to let me go, and I feel two familiar hands on me. My faithful servant leads me away, and together we make our way towards the castle to prepare ourselves for the next stage of our plan. 

We make it to his office, and he shuts the door as soon as we have entered. 

"How did it go, My Lord?" he asks me eagerly, and I give him a smile. 

"It went well, Barty. It went very well," I tell him as I sit down. He grabs two small vials from his desk, and hands me one. He opens the other, and downs it in one go. I open my vial, and swallow its content as fast as I can. 

If you thought Veritaserum tasted like shit, try the antidote. 

"You know how we will continue from here, Barty. If Dumbledore discovers your true identity, and I´m very sure that he will, you tell him the whole story of your escape. Don´t hold any details back. We must make sure that they believe that Voldemort has returned."

Barty glares at me with that hideous eye. 

I hate it when he does that. 

"Yes, My Lord. I will tell them the story we have thought up. Don´t worry about a thing. I will convince them that it was Voldemort who freed me from my father´s clutches rather than just Wormtail." 

I give him a nod and I can see that he is eager to ask me more. So I raise my eyebrow as a silent confirmation that he may question me. 

"My Lord. How did you.....treat those traitors? Did you punish those that went free?" he asks and I can see the hate he holds for those who betrayed me radiate from his eyes. 

It still worries me how Barty obsesses over those who went free so many years ago. Of course it angers me that most of them chose to lie and twist the truth in every way possible but I can understand why they did it. And in a way I´m grateful for it. If it wasn´t for their betrayal I wouldn´t have them at my disposal at this moment. They would all be rotting away in Azkaban. But Crouch doesn´t see it this way. Unfortunately. 

"Of course I punished them, Barty. Don´t you worry about the others. Just make sure you don´t make any mistakes when the time comes. You know that mistakes will not be rewarded."

Barty pales a little at my words, and shakes his head quickly. 

"I will not make mistakes, My Lord. And I trust you. I trust you to break me out of the Ministry once they have identified me as a Death Eater," he says and I nod.

If I can find a use for you, I silently add to that. Otherwise you will just have a very unfortunate accident I´m afraid. 

I smile at my own cunningness and Barty interprets that as something good because he returns my smile. 

We stay silent while we wait for the others to find us, and I let my mind take me back to the Quidditch World Cup. The first moment of our collaboration. 

I gave Crouch to strength to fight his father´s Imperius Curse and he took my wand as we had agreed. He cast the Dark Mark as the first piece of evidence of my inevitable return. 

After that Wormtail visited him again and this time took control of Crouch Sr. It was then that Barty took over Mad Eye Moody´s identity and the rest is, well, history. 

"Master." 

His voice alerts me that we are about to have company, and we both look at the Foe Glass. Three figures are making their way towards us and I give him a nod. He takes my silent order, and starts to play his part of Death Eater who is about to hurt the Boy-Who-Lived. I myself of course play the part of said terrified boy, and we continue our little charade until the door bursts open, and Dumbledore stuns Barty. 

The old Wizard snaps orders at Snape and McGonagall, and they rush off to do his bidding. The Headmaster then turns to me, and tells me that he knew the moment Moody took me away from the Quidditch pitch that he was an imposter. 

The old coot is so wonderfully predictable. 

I play my part of confused and frightened child until Snape returns with the Veritaserum. Knowing that the slimy Potion Master would use that particular potion was the reason both Barty and me took the antidote. They can shove all the Veritaserum they want down our throats but it will not have any effect on us. 

The greasy git administers the potion to Barty, and what follows is a brilliant piece of acting on Crouch´s behalf. 

He gives them every detail we agreed to and plays the part of drugged captive perfectly. By the time he is done I´m seriously considering not killing him after all. The man deserves a reward for such a display of loyalty. 

Dumbledore barks more orders to his Professors, and takes me with him to his office. I pretend to be seriously injured when I limp besides him while the pain-numbing spell I used earlier that evening in fact makes me feel perfectly all right. 

In his office I am greeted by my _Godfather_. 

I pretend to be very happy to see the obnoxious man, and sit down tiredly in one of the chairs. 

Black actually sticks up for me when the Headmaster presses me to tell my tale. But in fact I´m more than ready to tell my side of the story. I´ve spend months coming up with it after all. 

So I tell them about Wormtail and the potion Voldemort used to regain his body. I show them the cut on my arm Wormtail created to use my blood and I tell them about the confrontation afterwards. 

Dumbledore seems to swallow every word I´m saying, just as I knew he would. The part about Priori Incantatem, when our wands supposedly met, is extremely plausible after all, since both my wands share the same core. Something I already knew of course but Dumbledore explains it to me patiently while I watch him with wide eyes. 

After his curiosity is satisfied he takes me to the hospital wing, and allows me to rest after he practically shooed all those repulsive Weasleys away. 

I swallow some of the sleeping potion Pomfrey gives me, and allow myself to fall into a light sleep. 

I wake up when I hear voices yelling and arguing. I strain myself to hear what they are saying, and a rush of fury surges through me when I understand their words. 

Bloody Fudge had the nerve to hand my servant over to a Dementor!

Oh, he will pay for that. The torture I have planned for him has just been extended from two days to a full week. 

On a better note, Fudge´s ignorance proves very useful at this moment because he refuses to believe that the Dark Lord has risen again. I can hardly contain my laughter as I watch Fudge´s face pale and redden several times while the others try to convince him that I am telling the truth. 

Of course I´m telling the truth. I would never lie about my own return, now would I. 

I decide to throw in my two cents, and start yelling names of my servants to prove that I have some knowledge of the identity of the Death Eaters present at the gathering that evening. I also know that no one has but even the slightest shred of evidence against them so my family will be safe even though I´m confessing to their involvement. 

Fudge turns out to be delightfully stubborn and refuses to believe any of our stories, even when that treacherous Death Eater Snape shows him his newly recovered Dark Mark. 

When Fudge finally leaves Dumbledore takes immediate control and starts ordering people around. I listen carefully to the plans the old fool makes to mobilize people and rid the world of the Dark Lord. 

I wish him all the luck in the world. 

He will need it. 

It is extremely amusing to see the small confrontation between Snape and Black, and when Sirius is told to alert even more people of my return I play the part of upset Godson while in reality I couldn´t be happier that he´s going to leave me alone for a while. 

And I have a very private moment of sheer happiness when Dumbledore asks Snape if he is prepared. Snape confirms that he is. 

Well, so am I. 

We will meet in private very soon, my dear Severus and the pleasure will be all mine. 

Finally Dumbledore says that he is needed elsewhere, and leaves the hospital wing. 

Which leaves me at the mercy of Molly Weasley. 

Perhaps turning myself in now will be less painful than having that repulsive old bat fussing over me. 

She practically force feeds me the rest of the sleeping potion and I let her. 

Anything to get away from her, I tell you. 

I feel the familiar warmth of the potion spread across my body, and I give into the pull of oblivion. I have to restrain a smile that threatens to appear on my face just before I fall asleep. I want to smile because my last coherent thought is a very happy one. 

_Lord Voldemort has risen again. _

~~ fin ~~


End file.
